

fel 




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HERE, in this booklet, is a very brief 
story, and that told mostly by pic- 
tures, of Seattle, the Seaport of 
Success. 
It is a story of the Seattle of TODAY— and 
TODAY means just that, for while all that is 
printed now will be true tomorrow, each to- 
morrow brings so much of its own. so much 
more that is new, so much more to be told, 
that the story of Seattle can never be held 
within the covers of a book. 

And so, in the pictures and the text to fol- 
low, the reader will discover something- of 
what Seattle is and of what Seattle has today, 
and from this, with the certain assurance of 
uninterrupted progress and development, may 
be gleaned a fair idea of what Seattle will be 
and of what Seattle will have, keeping always 
in mind that even between the writing and the 
reading of this little booklet, the rush of events 
has brought many changes not herein recorded. 



The C harmed Land 



"When once we cross the summit of the Cascades, we enter a totally different 
climate, an air which is mild, gentle and moist, but never depressing; a country of 
green mountains, of dazzling snow-tipped peaks, of grass, of moss, of fern, which 
knows neither the barrenness of winter nor the brownness of summer; a land which 
has all the best and most invigorating qualities of tlie cradle of our Teutonic race, 
with none of its savagery or extremes. From one end to the other it is the home of 
the tall trees and tall men, of the apple, the peach, the prune and the pine; the land 
of the green valley and the rushing river. The rosy pink of its orchards every spring 
is equaled only by the sunset glow upon its peaks of eternal snow. 

"It is the charmed land of the American continent, where a temperate sun, a 
mild climate and a fertile soil give man the stimulus of the green and rainswept 
North, with the luxurious returns for moderate effort of the teeming tropics. The 
most restful and soothing climate in the world, the land where 'it is always afternoon," 
the ideal home for the blond races, and not half appreciated yet at its full value." 

— Dr. Woods Hutchinson. 



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''^ Seattle^ the Seapoi^t of Success'^ 

HISTORICAL 

First settled in 1S52. 

Xanied for a friendly Intlian chief who died in 18SG. 

First plat filed in 18.53. 

Incorporated as a town in ]805. 

Incorporated as a city in 1869. 

In 1884 first railroad reached the city. 

June G, 1889, business district wiped out by fire. Loss, $7,000,000. 

In 1889 city charter adopted. 

In 189G first direct steamship line to Orient established. 

In 1897 first big shipment of gold from Alaska and the Klondike. 

CLIMATE AND HEALTH 

Average temperature: Winter, 40 degrees; Summer, G4 degrees. 

No blizzards, cyclones, cloudbursts or drouths. 

Outdoor work possible every day in the year. 

Finest summer climate in America; winters invariably mild. 

Lowest death rate in the United States. 

Lowest infant death rate in the world. 

Absolutely pure water supply from mountains; 07,500,000 gallons daily capacity. 

Rigid inspection of milk and all market supplies. 

City collects and destroys all garbage. 

GENERAL 

Population, 1910 census, 237,194; 1912 directory and school census, 280,322. 

Twenty-first city of United States in population and importance. 

Eight transcontinental railroad lines. 

Fifty-eight steamship lines. 

One hundred and fifty miles of water-frontage. 

Postoffice receipts for 1912, $1,049,503.72. 

Bank clearings 1912, $002,430,660.99. 

Bank deposits 1912, $79,187,319.68. 

Cost of buildings in 1900, $3,000,000; in 1909, $19,000,000; in 1910, 1911, 1912, 

$33,000,000. 
United States Assay Office, established 1898, has received $210,407,068.99 in gold. 
Best lighted city in America, lighted by municipal plant. 
More than three hundred cliurches of all denominations. 
Public library of 175,000 volumes. Splendid central building and six substantial 

branch buildings. 
Sixty-five grade schools; six high schools. Many private and parochial schools. 
University of Washington within city limits on 335-acre campus, with 2,700 

students enrolled. 
Public park acreage 1,803; twenty-eight improved parks; twelve fully equipped 

playgrounds. 
Finest scenic boulevard system in world; thirty-one miles completed. 
Expenditures on parks, playgrounds and boulevards since 1904, $5,440,000. 
Building largest canal lock in United States to connect salt and fresh water harbors 

at cost of $2,300,000. 
Money provided and work in progress on harbor improvements to cost, within 

next five years, $20,000,000. 
More commerce, more manufacturing, more railroads, more population than any 

other city in Pacific Northwest. 




L^EATTLE 

WASHINGTON 




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SOUTHWARD OVER PART OF THE BUSINESS DISTRICT 

T STARTED in 1852, when the Httle group of hardy pioneers, 
one of whom is still living in Seattle, landed on the wide-spread 
beach at Al-Ki Point, just outside the entrance to the harbor. 
Here the first rude cabins were built — the first homes of the 
future city of many homes. But soon, in seeking better protec- 
tion for themselves, better means of wresting a necessary liveli- 
hood from the soil and the waters, the pioneers rounded the 
wooded promontory of Duwamish, entered the harbor and estab- 
lished their settlement on its eastern shore. 

Sixty years is but a brief span in the life of some cities of 
the world, yet those years in the life of Seattle have spanned all 
the development from primeval wilderness to a city of world- 
wide importance. As new settlers were attracted by the fertility 
of the soil, the advantages of the harbor location and the soft, 
equable climate all the year round, there came a saw mill, a few 
Httle stores with modest stocks of merchandise, and govern- 
mental recognition with a postofifice ; the first cabins gave way 
to homes of more comfort, and the permanence of the settlement 
became assured. 

There were struggles in those early years — struggles for the 
very life of the little community; there have been struggles in 
all the years since then. But the result has always been the 
same, the difficulties have been overcome. Standing together as 
in the days when they were few in numbers, the people of 
Seattle have pushed their city forward, have attracted the atten- 
tion and commanded the respect of the world. 



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TYPES OF BUSINKSS BI'ILDINiiS 



First and lasting impressions of a city, or of a community 
settlement of any size, are created by conditions disclosed in the 
business districts. It is here that the majority of visitors first 
find themselves ; it is here that the city's work is planned and 
for the most part executed ; it is here that individual enterprise 
is inspired and from here that all manner of undertakings, large 
and small, are directed and controlled. Whatever the geographi- 
cal extent of a city, its business district is its heart, the pulsa- 
tions of which are felt to the utmost suburb and far beyond. 

Building for business purposes in Seattle has kept stride 
with every development in architecture and represents every 
sound theory of modern construction. Even the older business 
buildings, fully occupied for many years, stand as examples of 
the best that was known at the time of their building. The era 
of the sky-scraper found Seattle ready. On this page are shown 
the Alaska Duilding (left), the first of these high-reaching 
structures, completed in 1904, and the Hoge Building, completed 
in 1911, which stands on an opposite corner of the same street 
intersection. From this point — Second Avenue and Cherry 
Street — in all directions, many fine structures of steel, concrete, 
stone and brick are lifted high above the more moderate level 









ANOTHER PORTION OF THE BUSINESS DISTRICT 

of their substantial neighbors. Just west of this point stands 
the Lowman Building; to the south the massive L. C. Smith 
Building has been rushed upward to the height of forty-two 
stories — the highest building in the world outside of New York 
City, while northward, on Second, Third and Fourth Avenues, 
are many other splendid examples of all that is most modern 
and best approved. These include the Central, the Empire, the 
American Bank, the Leary, the Savoy, the White, the Henry, 
the Cobb, the Northern Bank, the Joshua Green, the Bon 
Marche, the Schoenfeld, the Washington and the Calhoun. 

The view on this page is taken from the vicinity of the 
Washington and, looking generally southward, gives glimpse of 
many of the other buildings mentioned, stretching onward up 
the gradual slopes of Seattle's first hill to its crowning feature — 
the twin spires of the great Cathedral of Saint James, the most 
conspicuous object to those who approach the city from any 
direction by day, and marked throughout the night by a blazing 
cross. This magnificent house of worship stands on the ninth 
of the broad avenues eastward from the water front, each 
avenue running north and south and each, in the ascending scale 
of numbers, traversing a slightly higher level. Ninth Avenue 





riOXEKK I'LAi i; AM' THE TOTEM POLE 

is at the summit. Seattle is a city of hills, but by the ingenuity 
of the city's builders and the enterprise of the people access to 
its every part has been made easy. On the full page opposite 
is shown Cherry Street, looking eastward from First Avenue, 
indicating the easy gradient through the business district and 
onward. 

Memories of old Seattle — incidents of the history which 
began to be made in the early sixties — cluster about the locality 
pictured on this page, and appropriately known as Pioneer 
Place. It was here that Seattle's first commercial venture — the 
saw mill — was established, and the picture embraces nearly all 
of what throughout those earlier years was the whole of 
Seattle's business district. Appropriate, too, was the choice of 
this location, many years later, for Seattle's far-famed Totem 
Pole, wrought by the hands of Indians, with crude tools, and 
depicting the genealogy of an ancient tribe. Here, where this 
monument to a vanished family now stands, the Indians formerly 
came with their fish and their native wares to barter with the 
whites, giving Seattle its first recognition as a commercial 
center. From this point the business district gradually spread, 
much of it in cheaper forms of construction, until the great fire 






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THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT BI'II-DING 

of June 6th, 1889, wiped it all out. Then, facing a loss exceed- 
ing $7,000,000, at a time when Hope might well stand aghast 
in the midst of desolation, even before the ashes of the old 
Seattle had begun to cool — then were laid the foundations of the 
new and better city. 

East and at some distance north of the old center stood the 
hills, in sullen protest against extension, their slopes dotted with 
small buildings of many kinds. On one sightly elevation a huge 
hotel was erected. But the demands of a growing business 
population for more room became insistent and would not be 
denied. Then with the later years came the regrades, those 
great problems of engineering which Seattle solved to the aston- 
ishment of the world. The huge hotel was ruthlessly dismantled 
and torn down, all other buildings were removed or demolished. 
The hills were washed away with hydraulic rams, as shown on 
the opposite page, their great bulk being carried by the force of 
water far out into the depths of the bay. Other pictures op- 
posite show the massive new buildings that now cover the level 
ground where once was upraised the hill on which stood the old 
hotel. By this means, in various parts of the city contiguous to 
the business district, many hundreds of acres have been lowered 
and made level and accessible, being occupied by buildings as 
soon as ready for use. In the southern part of the city the vast 
amount of earth washed down from Beacon Hill has been used 
to fill in the tide-lands at the head of the harbor, creating 
spacious acreage for manufacturing enterprises. 



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Many of the plans for the material welfare of Seattle have 
originated, and much of the good work has been furthered, in 
the numerous clubs maintained within the city. Chief among 
these are the Rainier Club (lower) and the Arctic Club (upper) 
whose attractive exteriors are shown on the opposite page. The 
Rainier is the oldest of the city's clubs, including in its member- 
ship many men prominent in the commercial and professional 
life of Seattle ; the x\rctic, with a very large membership, has a 
special province in encouraging the community of interest be- 
tween Seattle and the people of the farther northern lands. 

The University Club (upper left) located in a fashionable 
residence district, and the big brick building of the Young Men's 
Christian Association (lower right) are shown on this page. 
The Seattle Athletic Club (lower left), with a fine downtown 
building, adds to the usual privileges of a high-class institution 
of its kind the out-door attractions of its annex — the Firloch 
Club (upper right), on the shores of Lake Washington. The 
Federation of Women's Clubs has a spacious home in a resi- 
dence district, and the completion of its new building, now under 
way, will put the Young Women's Christian Association in 
possession of a half-million-dollar property. 







' i 1 1 < I i 




THE MAIN I.lI'.KAm l'.riI.I»IX(; 



Seattle's public library buildings and property are valued at 
more than one million dollars, a considerable investment for pub- 
lic education and recreation and significant of the rate of com- 
munity growth in the fact that the investment was begun only 
ten years ago. The library system had been established prior 
to that time, but the entire plant, housed in a rented building, 
was destroyed by fire in 1902 and the work had to be freshly 
begun. In the subsequent plans the assistance of Andrew Car- 
negie was invoked and his large contribution helped to the con- 
struction of the main library building, pictured on this page, 
occupying an entire block in the heart of the city. 

Under the direction of a board of honorary commissioners 
the institution has flourished wonderfully since then. In addi- 
tion to the main building, six big branch buildings of handsome 
design have been erected and occupied in as many different parts 
of the city at some distance from the main building, and others 
are in course of construction. Aside from these the Library 
Board maintains eight branches and several deposit stations in 
rented quarters conveniently located in various neighborhoods. 
Nearly two hundred thousand volumes are at the disposal of 
readers and the number is being constantly increased. 




so.MK i)F skattm; 



Seattle enters upon its diversions as heartily as it does upon 
all the serious considerations in which the life and progress of 
a great city are involved. Taken as a whole its array of play- 
houses is the finest of any city in the West, and the patronage 
of play-goers and amusement seekers — a steady and dependable 
patronage — runs to enormous figures. All of the Seattle theatres 
are comfortable, well-equipped and adequately guarded against 
accident and panic. The interior of one of the houses — The 
Orpheum — is conceded to be the best-appointed and most sump- 
tuous of any theatre in the United States. A partial view of the 
handsome foyer of this theatre is shown above (upper right). 
At the upper left is a view of the interior of The Moore, the 
largest of the Seattle play-houses. Below are The Empress 
(left) and The Metropolitan (right). 

Five of Seattle's theatres — The Moore, The Metropolitan, 
The Seattle, The Grand and The Alhambra— were built for the 
largest attractions. The Orpheum, Empress and Pantages were 
built and are managed expressly for the presentation of high- 
class vaudeville. The Clemmer, The Melbourne, and nearly one 
hundred others, in all smaller sizes, are given over to the pop- 
ular photo-plays. 



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CIIUUCUES <)1' SHAll 1.1 






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CiniiCIIIOS OI" SEATTLE 



Every religious denomination and every form of worship 
known to civilized peoples is represented in Seattle. Each of 
the larger divisions of Christian faith has from six to a dozen 
or more churches located in various parts of the city. 

All of them well supported by those actively interested in 
religious endeavor, and sharing always in the general prosperity, 
the material welfare of many of these religious organizations 
has been fortunately advanced by the advantageous sale of old 
church properties in the course of the extension of business dis- 
tricts, and they have thus been enabled to build splendid edifices in 
more suitable places. 

Some of the more striking examples of Seattle's church 
building are shown herewith. On the opposite page, at the 
upper left, is the First Presbyterian Church, the largest edifice 
of that denomination in the city and supported by the largest 
single body of Presbyterians in the United States. Others of 
the group are the Roman Catholic Cathedral of Saint James 
(upper right), Trinity Parish Episcopal (left center) First Bap- 
tist (right center) and Plymouth Congregational. On this page 
are the First Methodist Episcopal (upper left) Pilgrim Congre- 
gational (upper right) and the Jewish Temple de Hirsch. 



lull 




SEATTLE HIGH SCHOOLS 

In the public schools of Seattle 32,592 day pupils and 4,557 
night pupils were registered in the school year of 1911-1913. 
A number of new buildings and additions to many of the older 
structures were completed during the summer vacation of 1912, 
all of which were quickly filled at the opening of the school year. 
The registered attendance, both day and night, will show a great 
increase for 1912-1913 over the preceding school year. 

Education in Seattle is compulsory. Children must be sent 
to school. But it speaks well for the character of Seattle families 
that school authorities have never been called upon to compel the 
attendance of their children. The people of the city take just 
pride in their public schools, and have always willingly and gen- 
erously supplied the needs of the system. 

The school buildings are splendid examples of appropriate 
architecture. All of them— even the oldest — occupy the most 
sightly locations in their respective neighborhoods. On this page 
are shown two of the city's high schools — the Queen Anne (top) 
t)n a commanding site in the residence district of the same name, 
and the Lincoln, situated in the northern part of the city. 

Seattle has now six high school buildings, of which the most 
central, and the oldest under the present system, is the Broad- 




SEATTLE III(;H SCIKKII.S 



way High School, shown in the lower illustration on this page. 
The upper picture is of the Franklin, the newest of the high 
schools, opened with the school year of 1912-1913. Other high 
schools, in substantial buildings, are the Ballard, in the north- 
western part of the city, and the West Seattle, in the south- 
western part. 

Sixty-five fine Imildings, specially located for accessibility 
and sightliness in as many parts of the city, house the grade 
schools. Often in the course of a school year the pressure of 
attendance has become so great that temporary quarters had to 
be provided for some of the classes. To meet such emergencies 
the school authorities some years purchased a large number of 
portable buildings suitable for class rooms. But these are used 
only until such time as new buildings can be completed. 

Eleven hundred teachers are required for the schools. The 
appraised valuation of the property of the Seattle School Dis- 
trict is $5,455,000, and the schools are supported by taxation of 
property aggregating a total assessed valuation of $315,000,000. 
As with the library system, the affairs of the schools are ad- 
ministered by a non-salaried board of directors, and the choice 
has uniformly been made of responsible, high-class citizens. 





13 







THE UNIVRURITY OF WASHINGTON 



[^V 



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THE UXIVEK.SITY OF WASHINGTON 

Leading on from the high schools and amphfying the edu- 
cational facihties of Seattle and the State of Washington is the 
State University, located in the northeastern part of the city on 
a campus of 355 acres, amply endowed with state lands and 
owning some of the most valuable property in the business dis- 
trict, where the old Territorial University was formerly situated. 

On that portion of the University campus theretofore un- 
improved the Alaska- Yukon-Pacific Exposition was held in 1909. 
State appropriations induced by this enterprise served to erect 
several fine permanent buildings which reverted, after use for 
the Exposition, to the ownership of the University. Of these 
the Fine Arts Building — now the Hall of Chemistry — is shown 
at the top of the opposite page. The lower illustration shows 
in the foreground another — the great Auditorium— and farther 
on, the School of Science and the Administration Building. 
Another acquisition from the Exposition is the huge Forestry 
Building, pictured on this page, and the same enterprise caused 
the improvement of the immense natural amphitheatre on the 
campus, in which is shown seated a crowd of 25,000 persons. 
Landscape improvements and gardens made for the Exposition 
are maintained by the city park board. 



I 



■ 







A CATHOLIC lIOSriTAL AND SCHOOL 

In the nature of provision for the care of the sick and the 
injured may usually be found a true index of the character of a 
city and its people. Almost from the earliest period Seattle has 
given attention to the needs of the suffering and has been well 
ecjuipped in this humanitarian respect. The city now maintains 
its own emergency hospital in the municipal building and the 
county has a large hospital in the suburbs in both of which treat- 
ment is without cost. 

In Seattle, as in nearly every community, civilized and un- 
civilized, the pioneer hospital was established by the sisters of the 
Roman Catholic faith. Many years ago Providence Hospital 
was opened in a small frame building. New stories were added 
and wings put on, but all such extensions at length proved insuf- 
ficient housing for the work. It is now carried forward in the 
magnificent building pictured at the top of this page, completed in 
1912 and occupying two full blocks — the finest hospital and the 
most thoroughly equipped in the West. 

Similar growth attended the educational efforts of the sisters 
of the same faith, and the Academy of the Holy Names, shown 
in the lower picture, is the result of their persistence and the 
evidence of their success. 



■■■w 




As a city of homes Seattle justly claims the attention and 
excites the admiration of every visitor. In a dozen different 
districts, giving outlook over the harbor or the lakes, and some- 
times both, facing either toward the towering Cascade Moun- 
tains on the east or the rugged Olympics on the west, are hun- 
dreds upon hundreds of beautiful homes, many of them sur- 
rounded by spacious grounds, well-kept and inviting, as strong 
an evidence of the home-loving instinct of Seattle people of 
means as the big buildings down-town are of their commercial 
enterprise. On the First Hill, the oldest of the residence dis- 
tricts, on Queen Anne Hill, in the North Broadway district, on 
Capitol Hill, Beacon Hill, in Denny-Blaine Park. Washington 
Park, Madrona Heights, Mount Baker Park, the Denny-Fuhr- 
man and the University districts, are located, for the most part, 
the more costly residences, so that to give an adequate idea of 
the number and architectural character of Seattle's finest homes 
would require a volume in itself. But all about — in every part 
of the city away from the business center — are thousands of 
substantial homes, comfortable, convenient and of pleasing 
aspect, and all, whether owned by rich or moderately-circum- 
stanced citizens, showing those unmistakable signs of careful 



I 




A PARKED STREET 

Upkeep and scrupulous attention to surroundings. The glimpses 
pictured on the preceding page are in the North Broadway dis- 
trict, where the homes overlook Lake Union, with Queen Anne, 
the harbor, Puget Sound and the Olympics beyond. The picture 
on this page gives just a bit on Capitol Hill. Both this and the 
preceding illustration are merely suggestive, not so much of the 
type of Seattle homes as of their environment. The beautifica- 
tion of private grounds is characteristic of all home-owners. 

As a city for homes Seattle has other advantages of higher 
consideration than the many possibilities of gaining wealth and 
the wide range for choice of desirable locations for home-build- 
ing. While homes are built to last and must eventually come to 
be enjoyed by succeeding generations, the Seattle home-builder 
naturally looks forward to long personal enjoyment, for Seattle 
is a city of long-lived people. It is a fact of record in the Fed- 
eral Census of 1910 that Seattle's death rate of 10.1 is the lowest 
death rate of any city in the United States. In its rate of infant 
mortality Seattle is in a class by itself, the percentage being 
almost infinitesimal. According to verified statistics, the loss by 
death in Seattle of children under five years of age is but 189 
to the 100,000. 



as 





IN SEATTI.K'S PARKS 

Seattle has 1T8 miles of paved streets, 121 miles of planked 
streets, and 617 miles of graded streets. The work of street 
improvement is carried forward unremittingly. In the business 
districts and on streets subject to heavier forms of traffic the 
paving is of vitrified brick and stone blocks, extending from 
which, as traffic conditions warrant, run the miles of smooth 
asphalt, heavily based and constantly maintained to the last 
degree of excellence. 

Throughout the city, in many of the close-in residence dis- 
tricts, the asphalted thoroughfares at frequent intervals lead 
upon the macadamized roadways of the city's many parks. 
Since 1904 Seattle has spent $5,440,000 on parks, playgrounds 
and boulevards, the boulevard system being entirely independent 
of the street system and under the separate control, with the 
parks and the playgrounds, of the Board of Park Commissioners. 
On this page are shown the brooklet in one of the secluded 
recesses of Ravenna Park ( u])per left) ; the board walk at Madi- 
son Park (upper right) running along the shore of Lake Wash- 
ington ; the bufifalo herd in Woodland Park ; a bit of the road- 
way through Woodland ; the mineral spring in Ravenna, and the 
monument to William II. Seward in Volunteer Park. Seattle's 



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IN SEATTLE'S PARKS 

park, playground and boulevard area covers 1803 acres. There 
are twenty-eight improved parks, ranging in size from five to 
two hundred acres. In some of the closer-in parks and the many 
small open spaces in the thickly settled portions of the city which 
are under control of the Park Board, there has been much taste- 
ful improvement, some of it with a touch of formality ; but in 
nearly all parks the improvements have been carried forward 
with the least possible disturbance of natural conditions. In 
some of the larger and more distant from the business centers 
the natural beauties are of such compelling attractiveness as to 
call for nothing save watchful care that they be not disturbed 
or demolished, and the building of little roads and winding path- 
ways, with rustic resting places, so that they may be fully en- 
joyed. On this page are shown, at the top, a rustic bridge and 
one of the many giant fir trees of Ravenna ; a lane in Kinnear 
(lower left) and one of the wide-spreading lawns in Woodland. 
The whole wonderful system — parks, playgrounds and scenic 
boulevards — is the working out of a single comprehensive plan. 
Although several large parks have been acquired, the policy has 
generally been to provide neighborhood or community parks, a 
feature of the general plan being to provide a park or a play- 



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SALT WATEK AND FUESII 

ground within a half mile of every home in the city. One im- 
portant acquisition, made in 1910, was of a 2.500 foot strip of 
salt water front at Alki Beach, including- the exact spot where 
the first settlers of Seattle landed in 1852. Here a huge and 
handsome pavilion has been built, and here during the long 
Puget Sound summer go thousands for salt water bathing. The 
upper picture gives a glimpse of many bathers at this delightful 
resort. Below — jumping clear across to the other side of the 
city — is the board walk at Leschi Park, on Lake Washington, 
the great playground of canoeists and swarmed during the sum- 
mer by all manner of pleasure craft, h^or all the parks music is 
provided by the park board, bands playing on the evenings and 
Sundav afternoons of summer. 



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ON THE rr.AYGROUNDS OF SEATTLE 




Children's playgTOunds have heen given g'enerous attention. 
The city owns twenty-two playgrounds, ranging from a city 
block to thirty acres in area. Twelve of these playgrounds have 
been substantially improved with modern outdoor gymnasium 
equipment of steel and other recreation facilities, and experi- 
enced men and women supervisors are in charge. Nearly one 
million dollars has already been expended on this feature of the 
park board's undertakings. Four of these playgrounds have 
thus far been provided with field or recreation houses, modern 
in every respect, with gymnasivuns, libraries, club rooms and 
assembly halls. 

Many of the playgrounds are happily located in proximity 
to school buildings, and throughout the year — for the climate 
admits of almost constant use — they are all the scenes of ex- 
hilirating activity and lively sports. The infinite variety of uses 
served is but faintly indicated by the illustrations on this page 
and the next, which show the interesting pageantry of some 
children's holiday, a ]\Iay-pole dance, a base-ball game, tennis 
players, and outdoor gymnasium apparatus in use. The Park 
Board's statistics for the season of 1912, covering only the 
twelve supervised playgrounds, show an attendance of 785,479, 



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ox THE ri.AVCUol.NDS (IF .SKAlTI.i; 

of which number 299,300 were under fourteen years of age, and 
309,050 between the ages of fourteen and twenty-one, which 
gives an idea of the popularity of the playgrounds among the 
young people for whose benefit they are chiefly maintained. On 
many of the playgrounds the season's activities are nominally 
directed by organizations of the children themselves, somewhat 
in the form of little municipalities, with mayors, councils, peace 
officers and other subordinates chosen from both sexes, and in- 
spiring a sense of personal responsibility. These organizations 
stimulate a healthful rivalry between the several playgrounds in 
the matter of good order and cleanliness as well as in compe- 
tition in sports, diversions and pageantry. In addition to their 
separate carnivals, the playground organizations unite for the 
celebration of important holidays, especially the Fourth of July, 
and to their participation is due one of the most charming 
features of Seattle's annual festival of a week — the Golden Pot- 
latch. No city in the country of twice Seattle's population 
shows such consideration for the care, the entertainment 
the wholesome exercise of its children. The Boy Scouts 
ization is also under the general direction of the Park 
co-operating with the local Council of the national body. 



I 



JUJJLUclLlUU I 

ment and ■ 

Its organ- ■ 

rk Board, M 

" II 





ALONG THE LAKE SHORE 

Seattle's boulevards are unrivaled. No city in the world is 
situated in command of a more varied and resplendent array of 
natural beauties. On the one side stretches the hirbor and the 
broad waters of Puget Sound, with sparkling reach to the ver- 
dure of the western shores and foothills which rim in everlasting 
green the bases of the serrated Olympics. On the other hand, 
the full length of the citv and miles farther in both directions, 
lies Lake Washington, an inland sea of itself, well beyond whose 
eastern shores again rise foothills that lead ever up and up to the 
snow-clad Cascades. Directly to the south stands iNIount Rai- 
nier, the highest peak in the United States. 

With so much to be seen, and with the city's contour of 
crentle hills and valleys, the task of those who planned and those 
who built Seattle's boulevards has been a delightful one. Thirty- 
one miles of the scenic driveway have been completed, and ex- 
tension work is continuous. Opposite is shown a portion of the 
Interlakcn Boulevard with a distant glimpse of Union Bay, an 
arm of Lake W^ashington. On this page a bit of the boulevard 
along the shore of Lake Washington at Mount Baker Park. 

The boulevard plan— all a part of the general plan for the 
harmonious development of driveways, parks and playgrounds— 




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ON THE SCENIC BOULEVARDS 

provides finally for a fifty-mile chain of driveways, skirting the 
shores of the lakes and the salt-water front, or following the 
high ridges or along the hill-sides overlooking the water and 
the mountains. The system, by devious, graceful curves and 
yieldings, virtually belts the city, connecting up all the larger 
and many of the smaller parks, and turning in at all ends and 
by many short cuts upon the paved streets. This page gives a 
view from the boulevard looking generally westward across Lake 
Union toward Queen Anne Hill, and northern sections of the 
city known as Fremont and Ballard, with their great lumber and 
shingle mills. The depression in the central distance marks the 
route of the ship canal which the United States government is 
building to connect the lakes with the salt waters of the Sound. 
The lower picture is in Washington Park, showing by com- 
parison with the automobile, the splendid width of the driveway. 
Speed is carefully regulated throughout the system. 

At either side, for the length of the entire system, the drive- 
ways have been parked and planted, except where the provisions 
of nature have been more than adequate. Luxuriant growth is 
everywhere. Wild and cultivated flowers, in their seasonable 
succession, keep constant riot of colorful bloom. The big nur- 





TWO OF SEATTLE'S DRIVEWAYS 

series maintained by the Park Board continuously supplies trees, 
shrubs and flowering plants of substantial growth, not only for 
the boulevards and parks, but as well for the parking strips that 
line the streets in every residence district. 

A sweep of the main driveway through Volunteer Park is 
shown in the upper picture on this page. This park, of more 
than forty-eight acres, is the most centrally located of the larger 
park areas and though much of its native growth has been un- 
disturbed, it has received more attention in the way of formal 
landscaping than any of the others. Lying along the summit of 
the city's highest ridge it gives upon a commanding view in 
every direction not to be obtained from any other point. The 
lower illustration is on the driveway above Interlaken, and the 
eastward view shows a portion of Lake Union in the foreground, 
Union Bay and Lake Washington beyond, and the narrow port- 
age between the lakes through which has already been driven 
the excavation for the government canal that will soon unite 
the waters of the lakes with those of Puget Sound. 

The park system of Seattle today is the chief pride of all resi- 
dents and the means of greatest pleasure to all visitors. 








S1-;ATT1,K GOl.l' AM) COUNTRY CLUB 

At various points along the northern and southern boun- 
daries of the city, the boulevards or streets lead out upon broad, 
well-constructed highways that ramify every part of King Coun- 
ty, of which Seattle is county seat, and these in turn, at the 
invisible county line, lead on to the results of similar work by 
the road-builders of other counties and the state. 

The necessity of good roads was long ago recognized by 
the people of Washington, but here as elsewhere the movement 
has gained its greatest impetus from the influence of the auto- 
mobile. In recent years the popular demand for durable roads, 
built in accordance with a comprehensive system, has been fairly 
well met and the work goes on. In addition to the large annual 
revenues from regular road tax levies, the people of King 
County have just authorized the expenditure of a $3,000,000 
special fund on the county roads. In the next two years results 
should be achieved throughout the county comparable with the 
boulevard system of the city. 

The splendid roads already built from Seattle lead to many 
points of exceptional interest. Close at hand to the north are 
the spacious grounds of the Seattle Golf and County Club, with 
its fine club house on the edge of a high blufif, commanding a 
sweeping view up, down and across the waters of Puget Sound. 
The building, which fronts upon the best links in the West, is 
shown on this page. The concourse of automobiles testifies to 
the character of the road and the attractiveness of both the club 
house and the game as it can I)e played on such a course. 



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Out of Seattle to the north and south, and especially 
through the fertile river valleys to the south, the roads lead 
past many thriving farms and orchards, and through numerous 
prosperous towns and villages. In the southerly direction Mount 
Rainier is continuously in view, while every little eminence at- 
tained gives glimpses of other mountains. To the north the 
country is more wooded. The smooth roads run much through 
the cool forests, with their huge trees and tangle of evergreen 
vegetation, of which the bit shown on this page is typical. 

While thousands of autoists use the ferry to gain the east- 
ern shores of Lake Washington, many others in less haste pre- 
fer the hard, smooth highways that lead from the city around 
both ends of the big body of water. Over the ridge that lies 
east of Lake Washington is another long lake — Sammamish — 
and between the two and on to the south are the great coal 
mines of King County, yielding the greater part by far of all 
the soft coal used on the Pacific Coast. With the forests, farms, 
mines, lakes and mountain streams the scene is an ever-changing 
one of unfailing interest. Aside from the pleasure afforded by 
trips, long or short, through such a country, there are two 
excursions out of Seattle, to be made by automoliile over excel- 




lent roads — or by train if preferred — which have an irresistible 
appeal. The one is to the Falls of the Snoqualmie and the other 
to and up Mount Rainier. The Rainier National Park, embrac- 
ing the whole great mountain, is a reservation of the federal 
government and many thousands of dollars have been spent by 
the government in building roads that take up connection with 
county and state roads at the reservation line and lead on around 
and around and up and up the sides of the giant elevation by 
the easiest possible grades. From the topmost present ending 
of the automobile road the ascent to the summit may be made 
part way on horseback, as shown in the picture on this page, 
through the charms of Paradise Valley, gorgeous throughout 
the summer with an infinite variety of mountain flowers, bloom- 
ing to the very snow line. Other pictures are of the peak from 
a somewhat distant elevation near the timber line, and of one 
of the many rocky ridges and glaciers that rib its sides. 

The trip to Snoqualmie Falls is shorter. This wonderful 
cataract, shown opposite, is only thirty-five miles from the city, 
a matter of a few hours. The fall is from a height of 2G8 feet, 
far higher than Niagara, and set amid surroundings of thrilling 
grandeur. 



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YACHT CLUB HOUSE AND MOOUINGS 



I 



With sheltered waters of an inland sea more than one htni- 
dred miles in length spreading' north and south from Seattle it 
is but natural that the city should have come to be acclaimed 
as the center of a yachtsman's paradise. Such an expanse as 
lies with the limits of Seattle's own harbor would be regarded, 
in many parts of the world, as in itself a spacious playground 
for pleasure craft ; but beyond the harbor stretch the broad 
waters of Puget Sound, Hood Canal, Admiralty Inlet, the Gulf 
of Georgia and the Straits of Juan de h^ica, with scores of other 
large harbors and countless lesser indentations, and jeweled by 
hundreds of verdant islands of every size. And reaching on 
from perennial charms of these waters are the thousand miles 
of beauty and grandeur along tlie inside passage of the Alaskan 
Coast. 

More and more, every year, as one delightful season suc- 
ceeds another, the possibilities of pleasure boating on Puget 
Sound are appreciated, and yet those most familiar with these 
waters, the most enthusiastic of yachtsmen, the most diligent 
seekers after new places to go. agree that their pleasures have 
scarcely begun and that the opportunities are virtually without 
limit. 





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THREE KINDS (H ri,i;ASi Kl 




Each city on Puget Sound has its yacht ckib, the oldest and 
largest in membership being the Seattle Yacht Club. There is 
lively rivalry between the cities and always a friendly spirit of 
competition among the members of each club as to the sea- 
worthiness and speed of their respective craft. Challenges are 
constantly flying about and the frequent races and more impor- 
tant inter-club regattas excite the keenest interest. The result 
has been the development of the finest types of boats of all 
classes — sailing craft of every known rig, large and commodious 
power-driven cruisers, snappy speed boats, a good example of 
each of these types being shown on this page. On the opposite 
page are shown the handsome Seattle club house and a portion 
of the club fleet at moorings, all snugly located on the west side 
of the harbor and accessible to visitors either by electric car or 
by a short run on the big ferry boats from the central water- 
front of the city. 

And the opportunity for enjoyment on the water is not 
wholly reserved for those who own their craft, for the man)- 
regular and excursion boats plying from Seattle in every direc- 
tion give the delights of swift movement, the tang of salt air 
and the ever-changing scenerv to all. 




FISHING IN A NEARBY MOUNTAIN STREAM 

Boating and fishing are invariably associated together, and 
boating on the waters of Puget Sound admits of fishing when 
and where you will, for these waters are filled with almost every 
variety of fish native to the brine. And the catching of them is 
not by any means a languid form of recreation, for the salt- 
water fisherman is often met by as vigorous resistance as would 
be expected from the more sophisticated finny ones of fresh 
waters. 

But for many there is no real fishing except in the rushing 
rivers, the noisy and tortuous torrents and the high-lying lakes 
of the hills. For such Seattle has everything to offer. The pic- 
ture on this page shows such a stream as comes down through 
every mountain gorge and hill-side gulch of the rugged ranges 
that stand on either side of the city. Many of the best streams 
are within easy distance by train, automobile or boat, while 
others more remote call for some hours of travel by foot along 
the trails, h^rom April first of each year, when the trout season 
opens, the fishermen of Seattle are on the go, and forming, as 
they do, a sort of helpful brotherhood of the rod, they make it 
possible for anyone to ascertain, before leaving the city, the 
condition of the various streams and trails. 



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WHERE LIGHT AND POWER ARE MADE 

It is in the hills, rock-ribbed and ancient, with their ever- 
accumulating and ever-melting snows, their unfailing glacial 
flow, that the forces originate giving Seattle light for its streets, 
buildings and homes, and power for its manufacturing plants 
and for transportation. 

Seattle is the best lighted city in the United States. The 
brilliant illumination of the city streets each night suggests to 
visitors what would elsewhere be the result of preparation for 
some gala occasion. Here power for every purpose may be ob- 
tained at the lowest rates extant, and here the street railways, 
ramifying every section of the city, and the electric lines con- 
necting with cities nearby, afiford service unexcelled anywhere. 

The impulse comes from the mountain streams, harnessed 
and compelled to service by the ingenious contrivances of man. 
The city has its own plant, which illuminates the streets and 
sells to private consumers. .\side from street lighting the 
greater part of public service, as well as the power for trans- 
portation, is provided by the Puget Sound Traction, Light & 
Power Company, whose three big generating stations are shown 
above— Snoqualmie (upper left). Electron (upper right) and 
White River. 



11 




LUMBER MILLS AND LOGGIXC! (,'AMI* 

Seattle's first industry was a saw mill. \'irtually every 
community on Puget Sound began with a similar enterprise. 
The wonderful timber resources of the region gave first means 
of livelihood to the earliest settlers, and the development of the 
lumber and shingle industry has marked the stride of progress 
in every line. For years Seattle's annual output of shingles has 
exceeded that of any other city in the world, the bulk of the 
product being turned out from the mills at Ballard, shown in 
the upper picture. Below is a typical scene in one of the many 
near-by logging camps, showing a log of no uncommon dimen- 
sions. On the opposite page are pictured the largest lumber 
mills in the world, located at Port Blakeley, just across the 
Sound, and a typical scene of sailing vessels taking on lumber. 





SEINE FISHERMEN IN SEATTLE HARBOR 

The commercial fisheries of the North Pacific Coast are cen- 
tered in Seattle. The fishing grounds cover the whole vast 
expanse of the northern ocean and its every harbor, the traps 
dot the coast at strategic locations and the canneries, large and 
small, are placed wherever advantageous for the quick handling 
of the fish ; but the business is directed from Seattle, where all 
supplies are procured and where the product comes for distri- 
bution. 

The development of the fishing industry of Puget Sound 
and Alaska is one of the world's marvels. A few years ago 
it didn't exist as a recognized industry and today the salmon of 
the North Pacific Coast has its place on every bill of fare, is 
known in every civilized household and is esteemed as a luxury 
even among the uncivilized. 

On this page is shown a party of seiners with their boat 
and net, the City of Seattle in the background, across the har- 
bor. Thousands of these men find profitable employment on 
Puget Sound. In the upper portion of the page opposite arc 
shown fishermen about to empty a trap net of its teeming silver 
catch. In the lower right corner a typical load of fish is being 
dumped from net to scow, while at the left a scow is being un- 
loaded at a cannery dock. The other illustration gives an idea 
of the size of the halibut, caught by countless numbers in near- 
by waters and brought to Seattle where tons of them are frozen 
for shipment to distant markets. The handling of cod, herring 
and other species susceptible of preservation, as well as the meat 
of shell-fish and crustaceans, forms an increasingly important 
factor in the industry. 




TIIH GOVERNMENT DRY-DOCKS AT liKEMEHToN 

At Bremerton, directly across Puget Sound from Seattle, 
is situate the Puget Sound Navy Yard, the largest and most 
important estal^lishment of the Navy Department on the Pacific 
Coast. 

Many years ago this site was chosen for a naval station, 
and under pressure of Seattle business men and commercial 
organizations, co-operating with the state's representatives in 
the Congress, the first dry dock was built and other modest 
facilities gradually provided. 

Since then the federal government has spent hundreds of 
thousands of dollars in the building of another and much larger 
dry-dock and in general and continuous improvement. For ten 
years or more this Navy Yard has been the rendezvous of all 
naval vessels in Pacific waters and has been constantly crowded 
with work. The larger illustration above shows one of the big 
cruisers in the older dock, and the smaller illustration is of the 
newer dock, since fully completed and in use, but shown here in 
course of construction to indicate the massive character of the 
work. Activity at IJremerton has attracted much settlement to 
the vicinity and numerous thriving towns have sprung up, all 
reached from Seattle by scores of fast steamers. 




SEATTLE SIIlPr-fll.DIXO PLANTS 

Many of the finest vessels afloat on the Pacific and con- 
fluent inland waters have been built at ship-yards in Seattle, and 
completed to the last detail of machinery, equipment and fur- 
nishings by Seattle workmen. In Seattle was built for the gov- 
ernment the first-class battleship Nebraska, and the work of 
Seattle yards ranges from this and the construction of big steel 
steamships down to the building of dories for the fishing fleet. 

The innumerable vessels of the world's merchant marine 
which make this port find here every facility of the most up-to- 
date character for over-hauling and repairs. The dry-docks, 
yards and machine shops of Seattle are always busy. The pic- 
tures show a scene in the yards of the Seattle Construction & 
Dry-Dock Company (upper) and the floating dock of the HeUer- 
nan Dry-Dock Company (lower). Both of these concerns arc 
constantly increasing and improving their facilities and equipment. 

All along the Seattle water-front are smaller plants devoted 
to special forms of marine construction and to the making of 
various kinds of machinery, equipment and parts. The water- 
front, with its varied and unceasing activity, is wonderfully 
interesting to visitors — particularly to those from interior points. 





IN THE SEATTLE ASSAY OFFICE 

It was on the water-front of Seattle that a series of hap- 
penings, beginning at far distant points, finally culminated in the 
two greatest events of Seattle's earlier history — the opening of 
direct trade with the Orient and the arrival of the first substan- 
tial shipment of gold from Alaska and the Klondike. Both 
events followed upon a long period of national depression during 
which Seattle suffered in common with all other cities of the 
country. In the summer of 1896 the first steamship of the 
newly-established Japanese line made port with her cargo of 
silks, teas, curios and other valuable products of the Far East. 
A little more than a year later came the first steamship to bring 
any large quantity of native gold from the Far North, and bring- 
ing what was of more value than the intrinsic worth of her 
cargo — the absolute proof of the amazing riches awaiting the 
prospector and the miner in the great Northern territory. 

Of the gold that poured into Seattle during that first year 
no estimate was possible. The first effect was to crowd the city 
with men of all ages and nationalities, bound for Alaska and the 
Yukon, by whom thousands upon thousands of dollars were 
spent in outfitting. Seattle was electrified to a new life. In 
1908 the federal government opened its assay office in the city, 
and since that time the receipts of gold at this office have 
amounted to the wonderful total of $210,407,0G8.99. 

On the opposite page are shown scenes at the arrival and 
departure of Alaska steamships, and on this a corner in the assay 
office, with bars of pure gold on the scales. In later years Seattle 
has grown accustomed to the steady inflow of gold from the 



S 




ALONG THE ALASKAN COAST 

North, occasionally augmented beyond regular expectation by 
receipts from newly-found sources. 

Prior to the discovery of gold in large quantities Alaska 
was known chiefly to but two classes, consisting of compara- 
tively few persons. The first class was the hunters of and 
traders in furs, for the northern yield of valuable pelts, both 
from sea and land, has always been enormous, up to the limit, 
in fact, of the eft'ort made to take them within the restrictions 
of the law. 

The second early class of those who knew something about 
Alaska was made up of discriminating tourists — the sort of tour- 
ists against whose desire for novel scenes and new experiences 
the questions of time and distance present no obstacles. In the 
trip from Seattle to Alaska and return such tourists as these 
found ample reward for their effort and expenditure, and so 
have all the many thousands who since then have made the trip 
for ])leasure. Undoubtedly the discovery of gold had much to 
do with stimulating the interest in Alaska ; although in most 
cases the treasure itself lay beyond the reach of ordinary tourist 
travel, its lure helped to e.xcite the imagination, and no one, 
whether on business or pleasure bent, ever returned from a trip 




SCENES ALONG THE INSIDE I'ASSACE 



to the North without a glowing account of the pleasures of the 
passage. 

The brief voyage along the coast of Southeastern Alaska 
fits admirably upon a visit of any length to the Pacific North- 
west. Splendid excursion steamers, specially built and equipped 
for the comfort of travelers for pleasure, leave Seattle almost 
every day of the season, thronged with happy crowds, for the 
voyage along the thousand miles of the inside passage to Ju- 
neau, Sitka and Skagway, safe from storm, and surrounded by 
scenery of stupendous grandeur. On these two pages are 
glimpses, not more than barely suggestive of the infinite variety, 
the beauty and the novelty to be enjoyed on such a trip. On the 
opposite page the Indian city of Metlahkahtla (upper left) ; Sit- 
ka, the ancient Russian capital (upper right), the Totem poles 
of old Kasaan (center) ; an excursion steamer at Taku Glacier 
(lower left) and a distant view of the northern shore line and 
mountains. On this page Juneau, the present capital, (upper 
left) ; the great Treadwcll mines (upper right) ; Totems at Sitka 
(lower left) ; exterior and interior of the old Greek Church at 
Sitka ; and a view along the White Pass & Yukon railroad, 
which leads from Skagway to the interior. 



Li3 



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THE 0-W. K. & N. PASSENGER STATKl.N 



Rail meets sail in any seaport city entered by a single line 
of track, but Seattle has the advantage over any other city on 
the Pacific Coast in that here more rails meet more sails. King 
County, of which Seattle is the county seat, constitutes a Port 
District, and improvements of harbor facilities are under way on 
which the people of the district have authorized an expenditure 
of $8,000,000. The United States Government is building a ship 
canal, connecting Lakes Washington and Union with the waters 
of Puget Sound. The Duwamish Waterway Improvement, an- 
other public project, opens the low-lying lands in the southern 
part of the city and on into the county to transportation and manu- 
facturing enterprise. With all these undertakings, calling for ex- 
penditures aggregating $20,000,000, Seattle will have facilities for 
traffic handling and industrial development that cannot, in the 
nature of things, be afforded by any other city on the Pacific Coast. 

Four transcontinental railroads serve Seattle over their own 
tracks ; four others send through equipment into the city. In 
the first named class are the Oregon-Washington Railroad & 
Navigation Company, whose magnificent passenger depot is 
shown on this page; the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul, using 
the same station ; the Northern Pacific and the Great Northern, 



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the two last-named making use of the Union Passenger Station, 
pictured on this page. The Canadian Pacific, the BurHngton, the 
Soo and the Northwestern fines operate through equipment in and 
out of Seattle ; from British Columbia ports the Canadian Pacific 
also connects by a line of fine steamships, as does the Grand Trunk 
Pacific, whose rails are pushing westward through the Dominion. 
Here in Seattle, for through traffic, passenger and freight, are 
met the steamships plying x\laskan waters and those making the 
more southerly Coast ports, as well as the great fleets that cross 
the Pacific to and from all Asiatic, Australasian and East Indian 
ports. 

Avoiding the great circle of the globe, which lengthens 
by hundreds of miles as it lies the nearer to the Equator, the trans- 
Pacific trade of Seattle traverses the short northern route, saving 
much in time and distance, the two factors in transportation which 
it is the object of modern methods to reduce as far as possible. 
This geographical advantage, which no other port can share with 
Puget Sound, insures to Seattle a place of supreme importance in 
the commerce of the Pacific and an enormous share in the pros- 
perity from the increase in immigration, settlement, industry and 
trade certain to follow upon the opening of the Panama Canal. 







COUNER OF A SRA'rrLE Tl BI.IC MARKET 

Municipal aid to solving the problems of the cost of living 
was begun in Seattle several years ago with the establishment of 
the Public Market, a busy portion of which is shown in this 
page's illustration. At the first allowance was made for only a 
modest beginning, with a small market building and space for a 
limited number of stalls. The popularity of the project was im- 
mediate, the house-wife and the truck gardener especially finding 
satisfaction in the opportunity afiforded to deal directly with each 
other. Not only has the city extended its original market plant 
to fully ten times the original dimensions, but has established an- 
other in a different location, while four similar undertakings are 
being conducted as private enterprises. In all of these the wares 
offered for sale and the sanitary conditions are under the super- 
vision of the city's bureau of market inspection. 

In the suburbs of Seattle and scattered all about beyond the 
city limits are innumerable small tracts whose soil is made to yield 
abundantly in fruits, berries of every kind, and all sorts of vegeta- 
bles. Near at hand, also, in addition to the big dairy farms and 
larger creameries, are numerous small dairies of a few good cows 
and many little chicken ranches. The products of all these, to 
great extent, are brought directly to the public markets of Seattle, 
where at nominal cost to the producers they are displayed to 
consumers amid cleanly and sanitary surroundings. Every day, 
except Sunday, is market day. 



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SO.M1-: OF THE I'UOIHX JS FUOM NEAR-BY 



The assurance of a direct and unfailing outlet for fresh 
products afforded by the public market system, added to the 
naturally heavy requirements of a great city's population and the 
increasing demands of other localities that look upon Seattle as a 
base of supplies, have all combined in highly stimulating effect 
upon the development of the agricultural resources of King 
County and all of Western Washington. 

A marked characteristic of this development is the continuous 
application of scientific principles in the conduct of the farm'j, 
large and small, the orchards, the berry patches, the dairies, poul- 
try yards, apiaries and other varied activities of country life. 
Given a soil of splendid natural fertility, a climate in which the 
proportions of sunshine and moisture change hardly at all from 
year to year, and the use of modern and sanitary methods, there 
is left little room for speculation as to what the harvest may be. 
Results may be depended upon with a degree of certainty that is 
possible in few other parts of the world. 

On this and the three succeeding pages are pictured a few 
suggestions of what is going on in the country tributary to Seattle. 
Here are grown in abundance the choicest fruits and berries of 
every kind known to the temperate zones, and many that are gen- 




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FRAGMENTS FROM MODKL FARMS 




erally considered indigenous only to warmer climes ; all sorts of 
vegetables, developed naturally and without sacrifice of succulence 
to prodigious sizes, and many varieties of grains and grasses. 

The value of the marketed berry crop alone for 1912 ex- 
ceeded $2,000,000, while the apple crop, including the yield from 
the irrigated districts of Eastern Washington, reached nearly 
8,500,000 boxes in 1912 and, at an average of 75 cents per box, 
brought in a revenue of nearly $6,500,000. The total valuation 
of the fruit crop of the State of Washington for 1912 was 
$10,791,018, of which the apples and berries constituted the two 
chief items, the other principle products having been peaches, 
pears, cherries, plums and prunes, apricots, grapes and cranber- 
ries. The total number of acres devoted to fruit culture at the 
close of 1912 was 275,557. 

Notwithstanding the progress that has been made the vast 
possibilities for agriculture may be approximated in the simple 
statement that although there are 10,000,000 acres of land under 
assessment in Western Washington, outside of incorporated 
towns, only 650,000 acres have been improved. In King County 
there are 784,880 acres of land exclusive of town lots, yet only 
74,680 acres have been in any way improved. 





AMID HAPPY SURROUNDINGS 

In King County, as in all of Western Washington, much of 
the land classified as unimproved stands in heavy timber, the 
greatest natural resource of this section, from which many for- 
tunes have been and many more are still to be made. A good 
deal of this timbered acreage is withheld from use in govern- 
ment reservations, but the logging operations on private holdings 
and the devastations of forest fires in the earlier years of settle- 
ment, have made vast areas available for agricultural purposes. 
These areas, known as logged-off or burnt-off lands, constitute an 
aggregate in Western Washington of 2,000,000 acres. The mat- 
ter of cultivation, while not as simple as the ploughing and plant- 
ing of prairie lands, presents no more serious obstacles than the 
necessity of removing the stumps and debris, and the soil is of 
amazing richness. Fine farms and dairy ranches are now found 
all about where once the forests were almost impenetrable, and 
the opportunity that yet remains for settlement and development 
may be measured from the fact that the many thousands of acres 
of this character still unoccupied, much of the land lying within 
reasonable distance of transportation and markets, may be ob- 
tained at prices ranging from $7 to $50 an acre. The cost of the 
land, and often the cost of clearing, can be cared for on easy 




OKDEK AND CLEANLINESS IN FARMING 




payment plans by bona fide settlers, and the returns are invariably 
large. 

In Seattle and the other cities of Puget Sound is a great 
home market, and aside from this an enormous demand is made 
upon the farmers, orchardists and dairymen of Western Wash- 
ington by Alaska, while some of the state's products are famous in 
all parts of the world. In recent years much attention has been 
given to the raising of thoroughbred stock and Western Wash- 
ington cattle and swine are prize-winners wherever shown. 

The policy of the State of Washington in dealing with the 
agricultural interests is one of extreme liberality. Taxation is 
kept within reasonable limits ; the fine system of schools reaches 
into every country district ; good road building is always in 
progress ; expert official advice is available in every problem of 
country life. Careful supervision of sanitary conditions is main- 
tained ; orchards and dairies are subject to rigid inspection ; 
products of every kind must pass examination before marketing, 
and these regulations, so far from proving burdensome, are help- 
ful to the improvement of methods and the assurance of uni- 
form standards of excellence ; encouraging in making the country- 
side tributary to Seattle wholly prosperous and happy. 





FEATURES OF SEATTLE'S FESTIVAL 



Always a hospitable city, and with a welcome waiting for 
every visitor all the year round, Seattle decided in 1910 that there- 
after a week should be set aside each summer during which the 
whole city should keep open house. The first Potlatch was held in 
the summer of 1911. The unique name of the celebration, taken 
from the Chinook Jargon, the trade language of the Pacific Coast 
Indians, meant to the Indians just what it means to Seattle — 
a period of hospitality, of entertainment, feasting, music, dancing 
and generally joyous revelry. 

Though other cities have their annual festivals of various 
kinds the Seattle Potlatch is patterned on none of these. It is as 
distinctly different in every detail as it is in its name. In a way, 
by its pageantry and lively ceremonials, it perpetuates something 
of the garb, the manners, the traditions of the aborigines of this 
part of the world, which helps to make it extremely picturesque 
and diverting. But the programs of each festival week are filled 
with novel and up-to-date entertainment of every kind and 
through it all runs the spirit of a genial hospitality. 

The annual Potlatch is under the control of a voluntary asso- 
ciation of leading business men and women, but in the past two 
years the carrying out of details has been wisely left to the Tili- 






AaM 



■ 




kums of Elttaes (Friends of Seattle) an organization of "live 
wire" citizens, divided into three tribes whose friendly rivalry for 
superiority of numbers and attractiveness in Potlatch pageantry 
keeps local interest at high pitch. 

On this and the preceding page are shown features from some 
of the famous Potlatch parades, including floats representing the 
emblems of the three Tilikum tribes — the Bear, the Whale and the 
Raven — an Indian war canoe fully manned ; the Hyas Tyee ( Big 
Chief) and his retinue ; and parades of totem poles, eagles and 
rabbits. 

Seattle always decorates in gayest attire for the Potlatch ; 
there are great days for the children, brilliantly illuminated night 
parades, naval and military displays, automobile and floral 
parades, daring feats of aviation by world-famous bird-men, and 
music everywhere. The streets are thronged by day and by night 
and everyone is happy. 

Seattle prepares for this week of jollification with all the 
thoroughness characteristic of every big thing that the city under- 
takes. The event itself, and the certain balmy weather of Seattle 
summer, in which it is held, make for a delightful holiday that is 
each year enjoyed by an increasingly large number of visitors. 




This Booklet is Published by 

Clir Qxplnttatimt auMnlJUBtrtal ©urrau 

of the 



This Bureau, as now constituted, came into existence by reorganization 
January 1st, 1912. Its purposes are to advertise Seattle and the Pacific 
Northwest, to encourage industrial, commercial and agricultural develop- 
ment, to invite and provide for conventions, to attract tourists and to aid 
homeseekers. It is supported by an apportionment from the general fund 
subscribed by public-spirited citizens of Seattle for these and various other 
purposes of the Chamber of Commerce. 

The E.xecutive Committee, directing the work of this Bureau, which 
embraces sub-committees on Industries, Exploitation, Conventions and 
Immigration, consists of the following: 






A. J. Blethen, CJnurnuni 

Scott C. Bone, Vice Chainnau 

J. A. Swalvvell 

Robert R. Fox 

Claude C. Ramsay 

J. C. Marmaduke 

E. A. Batwell 

H. A. Schoenfeld 

James A. Wood 

Miller Freeman 

George Matzen 

R. H. Mattison, 



W. H. Parrv 
Nathan Eckstein 
II. A. Chadwick 
J. C. C. Eden 
Samuel Collyer 
W. F. Foster 
W. M. Calhoun 
A. L. Kempster 
O. D. Fisher 
F. D. Moore 
E. F. Sweeney 
Sccreta>y 



In accordance with tlie policy and the wishes of the Bureau this is 

A Seattle Booklet— Made in Seattle 

Written and the production supervised by James A. Wood. 

Cover design and art work by Judson T. Sergeant. 

Photographs by Romans Photographic Company, Webster & Stevens and Frank 

H. Nowell. 
Three-color engravings by Western Engraving Company. 
One-color engravings by Seattle Engraving Company and Maring & Blake. 
Printed by the Lumbermen's Printing Company. 

All of Seattle 

For further information, and for special literature on many matters of interest 
relating to Seattle and the Pacific Northwest, address 

THE SECRETARY, 

Exploitation and Industrial Bureau 

Chamber of Commerce, Seattle. 





LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 




liniiiiHiiiiniiiimiiiiiiiiiiiii 
017 188 362 3 



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